Energy-Transfer-Enabled Radical Acylation Using Free Alkyl Boronic Acids through Photo and NHC Dual Catalysis

Cross-coupling reactions have been well received as one of the most popular protocols for ketone synthesis. As an important coupling partner, bench-stable and commercially available alkyl boronic acids are widely used in transition metal catalysis, but they are rarely utilized as radical precursors for acylative coupling reactions. Herein, we reported an energy-transfer-enabled radical acylation using free alkyl boronic acids via NHC/photo dual catalysis. This protocol could efficiently promote the Suzuki-type cross-coupling between alkyl boronic acids and acyl imidazoles as well as the multicomponent alkylacylations of alkenes, thus producing various ketones with structural diversity. Additionally, ketone products can readily transform into a large number of structurally interesting fine chemicals. Preliminary mechanistic studies shed light on the unique radical reaction mechanism.